The sharp increase in crude petroleum prices during the 1970s had a startling impact on state, economy, and society among oil producers. The meteoric growth of oil rents not only enlarged and centralized the state itself but simultaneously internationalized and domesticated the public sector. Fiscal rather than market mechanisms played a significant role in all oil-producing states, especially in so-called high absorbers. Adopting Nigeria as an example of oil-based accumulation, I examine (a) the general impact of oil rents on preexisting economic, political, and social relations; (b) the specific relations between oil-based public investment and capitalist development, using the case of the agrarian sector, and (c) the effects of the downturn in oil demand and prices upon Nigerian political economy.
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